1986: The United States bombs Libyan military facilities, killing 44, in retaliation for alleged Libyan involvement in the bombing of a Berlin nightclub frequented by US military personnel. Washington severs economic ties with Tripoli and calls on the world to treat Gaddafi as a pariah.

1992-1993: The United Nations imposes sanctions on Libya in a bid to force it to hand over two Libyans suspected of the bombing over the Scottish town of Lockerbie of a Pan Am airliner in December 1988, in which 270 were killed.

2003: The normalisation of relations between Libya and the West, which began in 1999, is marked by the lifting of sanctions and the announcement by Tripoli that it is abandoning programmes to develop weapons of mass destruction.

2005: Major energy companies, notably from the United States, resume their activities in Libya, which were broken off in 1986.

June 2009: Gaddafi pays his first state visit to Italy after the signature of a treaty resolving colonial-era disputes between the two countries.

February 15, 2011: The start of the bloody uprising against Gaddafi's regime. On March 19, French, US and British forces launch UN-mandated air attacks. Nato takes over the operation on March 31.

The rebels' National Transitional Council (NTC) gradually takes over on the international stage.

August 23: Rebels overrun Gaddafi's headquarters in Tripoli after heavy fighting. They find no trace of the strongman or his sons.

October 20: The new ruling authorities announce that Gaddafi is killed in the final assault on the last pocket of resistance in his hometown Sirte, which has been "totally liberated."